The Western Australian Government has announced an investment of $10.8 million in new roads, power and optic fibre infrastructure in the State’s Mid-West in an attempt to bolster Australia and New Zealand’s bid for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope project

During a visit to the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO) in the Mid-West, State Science and Innovation Minister John Day said the infrastructure is critical to the success of the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), which is an important precursor project to the SKA.

“The new roads, power and optic fibre infrastructure will link the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory, ASKAP and potentially the SKA to the world, while also benefiting Mid-West communities. 

The Queensland Government has announced funding of $1.67 million in grants for emergency medical research.

A new $5.1 million South Australian Cancer Genome Facility is to be established at SA Pathology with a $3.5 million grant from the Australian Cancer Research Foundation (ACRF), and a further grant of $1.05 million from the South Australian Government.

India and Australia will co-fund 18 collaborative projects under a multi-million dollar programme that could lead to better vaccines, more temperature tolerant crops and healthier food.

The Victorian Government has announced research currently underway into building  “new insights into Victoria's surface water and groundwater resources.”

An international team, of scientists, led by a team at Monash University has found the key to the hydrogen economy could come from a very simple mineral, commonly seen as a black stain on rocks.

The CSIRO has published a review of the Federal Government’s proposed Carbon Farming Initiative in the organization’s ECOS magazine.

A team of Monash researchers, lead by Professor Christophe Marcelle, have successfully identified the mechanism which causes stem cells to differentiate into specialised cells that form the muscular skeletal structure of animals. The research has since been published in the British scientific journal, Nature.

The Universities of Queensland, Newcastle, Monash and Western Australia have committed to a joint venture in the foundation of the International Energy Centre (IEC) to be opened by 2012.

The Queensland Geothermal Energy Centre of Excellence (QGECE) has been officially opened at the University of Queensland, with funding of $15 million from the Queensland Government allocated in 2007.

The Victorian Government has pulled funding of the state’s $200 million synchrotron, casting doubt over the future of the project.

A review of Geoscience Australia by the Department of Finance and Deregulation has found that much of the agency’s work “amounts to a national prospectus for some of Australia's most lucrative natural resources.” 

As part of its commitment to establish the $20 million Australian Biofuels Research Institute, the Federal budget has provided $5 million for a foundation project at James Cook University in Townsville.

A new program, Inspiring Australia, has been established to encourage Australians to pursue science and research in their careers, with amalgamated funding of $21 million  over three years.

Australia’s bid to host the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), in partnership with New Zealand has been awarded $40.2 million over four years.

CSIRO has been allocated $3 billion in a new new Quadrennial Funding Agreement that will operate over the four years from 2011.

The Federal budget has provided a record $9.3 billion for science and research across all portfolios, up from $8.9 billion last year.

The National Farmers Federation (NFF) has urged the Government to reinforce its commitment to rural research and development funding.

CSIRO, industry and the Federal and Tasmanian Governments have announced additional joint funding of $50 million for Tasmania’s peak information communications technology research body, the Tasmanian ICT Centre (TasICTC).

A $10.7 million collaborative research project  to improve the energy efficiency of photovoltaic solar cells is the subject of an agreement between between the Australian National University and Chinese solar energy company Trina Solar.

The Australian National University has launched a new $3 million Discovery Translational Fund (DTF) to assist innovation, research and knowledge transfer.

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